The rare-earth peak in the r-process abundance pattern depends sensitively on both the astrophysical conditions and subtle changes in nuclear structure in the region. This work takes an important ...step towards elucidating the nuclear structure and reducing the uncertainties in r-process calculations via precise atomic mass measurements at the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap. ^{158}Nd, ^{160}Pm, ^{162}Sm, and ^{164-166}Gd have been measured for the first time, and the precisions for ^{156}Nd, ^{158}Pm, ^{162,163}Eu, ^{163}Gd, and ^{164}Tb have been improved considerably. Nuclear structure has been probed via two-neutron separation energies S_{2n} and neutron pairing energy metrics D_{n}. The data do not support the existence of a subshell closure at N=100. Neutron pairing has been found to be weaker than predicted by theoretical mass models. The impact on the calculated r-process abundances has been studied. Substantial changes resulting in a smoother abundance distribution and a better agreement with the solar r-process abundances are observed.
High-precision hyperfine structure measurements were performed on stable, singly-charged Formula: see textCo ions at the IGISOL facility in Jyväskylä, Finland using the collinear laser spectroscopy ...technique. A newly installed light collection setup enabled the study of transitions in the 230 nm wavelength range from low-lying states below 6000 cmFormula: see text. We report a 100-fold improvement on the precision of the hyperfine A parameters, and furthermore present newly measured hyperfine B paramaters.
.
The Phase-Imaging Ion-Cyclotron-Resonance (PI-ICR) technique has been commissioned at the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap mass spectrometer. This technique is based on projecting the ion motion in the ...Penning trap onto a position-sensitive multichannel-plate ion detector. Mass measurements of stable
85
Rb
+
and
87
Rb
+
ions with well-known mass values show that relative uncertainties
Δ
m
/
m
≤
7
·
10
-
10
are possible to reach with the PI-ICR technique at JYFLTRAP. The significant improvement both in resolving power and in precision compared to the conventional Time-of-Flight Ion Cyclotron Resonance technique will enable measurements of close-lying isomeric states and of more exotic isotopes as well as ultra-high precision measurements required,
e.g.
, for neutrino physics. In addition, a new phase-dependent cleaning method based on the differences in the accumulated cyclotron motion phases has been demonstrated with short-lived
127
In
+
and
127m
In
+
ions.
The impact of nuclear deformation can been seen in the systematics of nuclear charge radii, with radii generally expanding with increasing deformation. In this Letter, we present a detailed analysis ...of the precise relationship between nuclear quadrupole deformation and the nuclear size. Our approach combines the first measurements of the changes in the mean-square charge radii of well-deformed palladium isotopes between A=98 and A=118 with nuclear density functional calculations using Fayans functionals, specifically Fy(std) and Fy(Δr,HFB), and the UNEDF2 functional. The changes in mean-square charge radii are extracted from collinear laser spectroscopy measurements on the 4d^{9}5s ^{3}D_{3}→4d^{9}5p ^{3}P_{2} atomic transition. The analysis of the Fayans functional calculations reveals a clear link between a good reproduction of the charge radii for the neutron-rich Pd isotopes and the overestimated odd-even staggering: Both aspects can be attributed to the strength of the pairing correlations in the particular functional which we employ.
Most centers utilize phone or written surveys to screen candidates who self‐refer to be living kidney donors. To increase efficiency and reduce resource utilization, we developed a web‐based ...application to screen kidney donor candidates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of this web‐based application. Method and time of referral were tabulated and descriptive statistics summarized demographic characteristics. Time series analyses evaluated use over time. Between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, 1200 candidates self‐referred to be living kidney donors at our center. Eight hundred one candidates (67%) completed the web‐based survey and 399 (33%) completed a phone survey. Thirty‐nine percent of donors accessed the application on nights and weekends. Postimplementation of the web‐based application, there was a statistically significant increase (p < 0.001) in the number of self‐referrals via the web‐based application as opposed to telephone contact. Also, there was a significant increase (p = 0.025) in the total number of self‐referrals post‐implementation from 61 to 116 per month. An interactive web‐based application is an effective strategy for the initial screening of donor candidates. The web‐based application increased the ability to interface with donors, process them efficiently and ultimately increased donor self‐referral at our center.
The authors describe an in‐house interactive web‐based application for the initial screening of live kidney donor candidates and find that its use increases the transplant center's ability to interface with donors and process them efficiently, and ultimately, increases live donor referrals.
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of the nuclear charge radius is one of the long-standing challenges for nuclear theory. Recently, density functional theory calculations utilizing Fayans ...functionals have successfully reproduced the charge radii of a variety of exotic isotopes. However, difficulties in the isotope production have hindered testing these models in the immediate region of the nuclear chart below the heaviest self-conjugate doubly-magic nucleus
100
Sn, where the near-equal number of protons (
Z
) and neutrons (
N
) lead to enhanced neutron-proton pairing. Here, we present an optical excursion into this region by crossing the
N
= 50 magic neutron number in the silver isotopic chain with the measurement of the charge radius of
96
Ag (
N
= 49). The results provide a challenge for nuclear theory: calculations are unable to reproduce the pronounced discontinuity in the charge radii as one moves below
N
= 50. The technical advancements in this work open the
N
=
Z
region below
100
Sn for further optical studies, which will lead to more comprehensive input for nuclear theory development.
We present the performance of a semantic segmentation network, sparsessnet, that provides pixel-level classification of MicroBooNE data. The MicroBooNE experiment employs a liquid argon time ...projection chamber for the study of neutrino properties and interactions. sparsessnet is a submanifold sparse convolutional neural network, which provides the initial machine learning based algorithm utilized in one of MicroBooNEs νe-appearance oscillation analyses. The network is trained to categorize pixels into five classes, which are reclassified into two classes more relevant to the current analysis. The output of sparsessnet is a key input in further analysis steps. This technique, used for the first time in liquid argon time projection chambers data and is an improvement compared to a previously used convolutional neural network, both in accuracy and computing resource utilization. The accuracy achieved on the test sample is ≥ 99 %. For full neutrino interaction simulations, the time for processing one image is ≈ 0.5 sec , the memory usage is at 1 GB level, which allows utilization of most typical CPU worker machine.
Resonant laser ionization and spectroscopy are widely used techniques at radioactive ion beam facilities to produce pure beams of exotic nuclei and measure the shape, size, spin and electromagnetic ...multipole moments of these nuclei. However, in such measurements it is difficult to combine a high efficiency with a high spectral resolution. Here we demonstrate the on-line application of atomic laser ionization spectroscopy in a supersonic gas jet, a technique suited for high-precision studies of the ground- and isomeric-state properties of nuclei located at the extremes of stability. The technique is characterized in a measurement on actinium isotopes around the N=126 neutron shell closure. A significant improvement in the spectral resolution by more than one order of magnitude is achieved in these experiments without loss in efficiency.
Objective
To quantitate the changes in stress urinary incontinence (SUI) outcome measures after 12 weeks of vaginal estriol cream in women with stress incontinence.
Methods
A prospective multicentre ...observational study conducted in tertiary urogynaecology centers. Postmenopausal women with pure SUI or stress predominant mixed urinary incontinence (MUI), not receiving any other treatment for their incontinence were given written instructions regarding digital application of a standard dose of vaginal estriol cream. Outcomes were measured at baseline and 12 weeks. The primary objective outcome was vaginal pH. The primary subjective outcome was the stress domain of the Urogenital Distress Inventory‐6 (UDI‐6). The secondary objective outcome used was the erect cough stress test. Two quality of life questionnaires and two patient reported outcomes were also included.
Results
The 46 postmenopausal recruits had a median age of 62.1 interquartile range (IQR 56.2–65.4). At follow up, the primary subjective outcome SUI domain UDI‐6 significantly improved from 83.3 (IQR 50–100) to 33.3 (33.3–66.7, p ≤ 0.001) as did vaginal pH from 5.1 (4.9–5.9) to 4.9 (4.6–5.0 p ≤ 0.001; 18/43 patients (42%) were dry on cough stress test.
Conclusions
Twelve weeks of vaginal estriol cream significantly reduced symptoms of stress urinary incontinence in this sample of postmenopausal women.
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